Openness is the quality of being open. It sometimes refers to a very general philosophical position from which some individuals and organizations operate, often highlighted by a decision-making process recognizing communal

Community

The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...

 management by distributed stakeholders (users/producers/contributors) rather than a centralized authority (owners, experts, boards of directors, etc.)

Openness could be a synonym of :

• Open system
  Open system
  Open system may refer to:*Open system , one of a class of computers and associated software that provides some combination of interoperability, portability and open software standards, particularly Unix and Unix-like systems...
  
   : Openness to experience
  Openness to experience
  Openness to experience is one of the domains which are used to describe human personality in the Five Factor Model Openness involves active imagination, aesthetic sensitivity, attentiveness to inner feelings, preference for variety, and intellectual curiosity. A great deal of psychometric research...
  
  , wiki
  Wiki
  A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
  
  , direct democracy
  Direct democracy
  Direct democracy is a form of government in which people vote on policy initiatives directly, as opposed to a representative democracy in which people vote for representatives who then vote on policy initiatives. Direct democracy is classically termed "pure democracy"...
  
  , open spirituality, respect for all other beings, etc (fully open)
• Transparency : openness in a utilitarian view : economical openness, open economic or politic data, etc (lower degree of openness)

See also

• Transparency (humanities)
  Transparency (humanities)
  Transparency, as used in science, engineering, business, the humanities and in a social context more generally, implies openness, communication, and accountability. Transparency is operating in such a way that it is easy for others to see what actions are performed...
  
  
• Connectivism (learning theory)
  Connectivism (learning theory)
  Connectivism was introduced as a theory of learning based on the premise that knowledge exists in the world rather than in the head of an individual....
  
  
• Open source
  Open source
  The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
  
  
• Free content
  Free content
  Free content, or free information, is any kind of functional work, artwork, or other creative content that meets the definition of a free cultural work...
  
  
• Open access (publishing)
• Open education
  Open education
  Not to be confused with Open educational resourcesOpen education is a collective term that refers to educational organizations that seek to eliminate barriers to entry. Such institutions, for example, would not have academic admission requirements. Such universities include Open University in...
  
  
• Open Knowledge Foundation
  Open Knowledge Foundation
  The Open Knowledge Foundation is a not-for-profit organization that promotes open knowledge, including open content and open data. It was founded 24 May 2004 in Cambridge, UK...
  
  
• Open system (systems theory)
• Open theism
  Open theism
  Open theism is a recent theological movement that has developed within evangelical and post-evangelical Protestant Christianity as a response to certain ideas that are related to the synthesis of Greek philosophy and Christian theology...
  
  
• Openness as a dimension of personality
  Openness to experience
  Openness to experience is one of the domains which are used to describe human personality in the Five Factor Model Openness involves active imagination, aesthetic sensitivity, attentiveness to inner feelings, preference for variety, and intellectual curiosity. A great deal of psychometric research...
  
  
• Glasnost
  Glasnost
  Glasnost was the policy of maximal publicity, openness, and transparency in the activities of all government institutions in the Soviet Union, together with freedom of information, introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the second half of the 1980s...
  
  
• Massive open online course
  Massive open online course
  In the field of open education, one of the latest trends is that of open courses, called MOOCs . Such courses are founded on the theory of connectivism and an open pedagogy based on networked learning. Typically, participation in a MOOC is free; however, some MOOCs may charge a fee in the form of...
  
  
• All is open